KOREAN Jindo BY ANN KIM, NICHOLE ROYER, AND NATASHA BROWN.
ORIGIN The Korean Jindo dog is an old breed that originates from an island called Jindo, which is located off the southwest coast of South Korea. There are no written records about how the first dogs arrived on the island of Jindo. However, there are several theories that have been presented in the past. The most wide- ly held theory is that the Jindo dog originated from the dogs already indigenous to the Korean peninsula, thousands of years ago. STATUS In Korea, the Jindo dog is designated as Korea Natural Treasure #53. Dogs born on Jindo Island fall under the jurisdiction of Jindo County. The county holds bi-yearly evaluations of young dogs, is responsible for the protection of the dogs, and hosts the annual Jindo Island dog show. A research institute was created in 1999 for the study of the Jindo dog. There is a large population of Jindo dogs that live outside of the island. The main- land of Korea has a significant population (perhaps half of all Jindos in South Korea) and there are many Jindo dog organizations that strive to preserve the purity of the breed and promote the propagation of excellent dogs. In Korea, both Jindo populations are registrable under the Korea Kennel Federation, which is the FCI member club for South Korea. Under the label “Korea Jindo Dog,” the Jindo received full breed recogni- tion in 2005 as FCI Standard No. 334. In the United States, the Jindo dog can usually be found in large Korean immi- grant communities. Korean Jindo owners in Los Angeles, California, established a Jindo breed club in 1993 and started conducting shows in 1995. Jindo judges were flown from Korea to the US to judge these shows. In 2008, the Jindo was accepted into the AKC Foundation Stock Service. In 2012, the first imports directly from South Korea were entered into the AKC-FSS stud book, with the very first AKC-FSS litter born in 2014. The Korean Jindo Association of America was formed in 2017 as the breed’s future parent club. As of January 14, 2021, there are 35 Jindos recorded with AKC-FSS, and of those Jindos, 11 are titled. Those 11 Jindos have earned 42 titles combined, including two Certificate of Merit titles. TYPE There is a certain presence that a Jindo dog gives off that is different from any other breed. Even though the Jindo dog was allowed to develop under natural selection due to the difficult living conditions of Jindo island, they were influenced by the preferences of the Korean people. Dogs that exemplified the traits that Koreans admired were helped along. It is through this Korean input that the Jindo dog is distinguished from being just one of the many primitive, pariah, or spitz dogs out there to being a Korean treasure.
“DOGS BORN ON JINDO ISLAND FALL UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF JINDO COUNTY. THE COUNTY HOLDS BI-YEARLY EVALUATIONS OF YOUNG DOGS, IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE DOGS, AND HOSTS THE ANNUAL JINDO ISLAND DOG SHOW.”
274 | SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, NOVEMBER 2021
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